Davis Building at the Temple

Alcoa Building

One of the City’s best examples of mid-20th Century Modernism, the Alcoa Building fell victim to the expansion of The Temple. Designed by Pittsburgh architects Schell, Deeter and Scott and Atlanta architect George A. Fuller, the building was an early example in Atlanta of the influence of such ground-breaking designers as Skidmore Owings and Merrill’s Lever House in New York City in 1950-51.

Establishing its impact through the rhythm of repeating rectilinear patters, the aluminum grillwork of the spandrel panels, which act as a showcase for the company’s product, help to maintain human scale and interest through material, proportion, and texture. Variety was provided in the linearity of the façade by the cantilevered arched canopy at the entrance. The historian Nicholas Pevsner postulated that the quality of variety, as illustrated by Atlanta’s Aloca building, was one of the major evolutions in 20th Century Modernism.

This building was demolished in 2009 and the site is now a playground for The Temple’s early learning center.